Hundreds of thousands eligible for £442 worth of free food vouchers, here's how to claim it

Hundreds of thousands of families are eligible for the government’s new Healthy Start scheme, which will provide them with free food vouchers to help pay for many food items including fruit, vegetables and milk.

The vouchers are available to low-income households but it is thought that many families are missing out on vouchers as they are not aware of the scheme.

Healthy Start scheme

The scheme has been introduced after the Local Government Association(LGA) encouraged the government to campaign for healthiereating amongst children by removing some of the expense.

Families can now get a NHS Healthy Start voucher, worth £4.25 a week, and over a year that adds up to £221, though it will be double if your child is under 1 year. Households eligible for the scheme will get prepaid cards, replacing the paper vouchers, to spend at a range of supermarkets and shops, as per The Sun.

Who’s eligible?

The NHS Healthy Start scheme offers prepaid food cards to women who are more than 10 weeks pregnant or women or men who have children under four.

They typically must also be on certain benefits, including:

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Child Tax Credit with a family income of £16,190 or less per year
• Pension Credit
• Universal Credit with no earned income or total earned income of £408 or less per month for the family.

However, if you are under 18 and pregnant you can get the money, even if you don't receive any of the above benefits, as per The NHS Website.

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How much you’ll get

If you’re more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4, you could be entitled to the scheme. If you are, you’ll be sent a Healthy Start card with money on it that you can use in some UK shops. The following money will then be add onto this card every 4 weeks..

You’ll get:

• £4.25 each week of your pregnancy from the 10th week
• £8.50 each week for children from birth to 1 year old
• £4.25 each week for children between 1 and 4 years old

Your money will stop when your child is 4 years old, or if you stop get benefits that make you eligible, as per The NHS Website.

What you can use the card for

You can use your card to buy:

• plain liquid cow’s milk
• fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables
• fresh, dried, and tinned pulses
• infant formula milk based on cow’s milk

You can also use your card to collect:

• Healthy Start vitamins – these support you during pregnancy and breastfeeding
• vitamin drops for babies and young children – these are suitable from birth to 4 years old

As long as the shop accepts Mastercard you can use the card at most shops. However, you cannot use the card for online shopping or to withdraw money at ATMs though you can check your balance on them.

You can apply for the healthy start scheme online on the government website. Alternatively, you can print out a paper form from the Healthy Start website or you can request one from your GP or midwife. In addition to these options, you can request one from the healthy start helpline on 0345 607 6823.

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Sources used:

- The Sun 'HELPING HAND Hundreds of thousands of Brits missing out on up to £442 in free food vouchers – can you claim?'

- The NHSWebsite 'Get help to buy food and milk'